The right grouping

Most commentators agreed that the victory of the left in the last generals had more to do with the fragmentation of the right than with the existence of a large social majority in that ideological spectrum. Hence, it is argued that as long as everything that is to the right of the left is not reunited in a single political force, it will not be possible to build an alternative with the ability to win the elections and bring a reformist and liberal government program to the institutions.

In this sense, there are many voices that advocate a convergence of the different center and right parties in a center political force that, accepting social rights as great civilizing conquests, differs from the left by recognizing the role of the market and the emphasis on reforms that will make the welfare state sustainable. The issue returns to the forefront with the defense of the Spain sum platform, inspired by Navarra sum, which would integrate PP, Cs and even Vox.

In my view, this reflection is incomplete and is doomed to failure . From the outset, the difference with the left is not only in how the wealth necessary to pay for social rights is generated, since in my opinion the way of realization of social rights is also politically relevant. Once it is assumed that all members of the political community must have access to certain assets necessary for personal fulfillment (education, health, etc.), it is not indifferent if it must be a consequence of a benefit provided by the State (Welfare State ), or if what corresponds to public institutions is to ensure that such access takes place, leaving room for social dynamism (Guarantor State in the key of subsidiarity).

However, this is not the greatest difficulty in regrouping everything on the right of the left; To the previous one we must add two questions that, in my opinion, are relevant.

First, a center-right force must be able to articulate a defense of Spain as more than a space for the enjoyment of individual rights. It is true that the modern idea of ​​a nation is linked to the recognition of all citizens as free and equal individuals and, therefore, there can be no political nation without individual rights, but it cannot be forgotten that the nation subsists in a historical and cultural community. Thus, it is necessary to articulate a rational patriotic discourse. In case the example is worthwhile: in front of the myth of the Spain of free and equal citizens with origin in 1812, the center-right must build the common house with those who underline that 1812 was possible by 1808, outburst of dignity of an old western nation forged in centuries of history in common.

The second difficulty in grouping the center right comes from the observation that the current left is very different from that of Felipe González. Not only because the new left actively questions the process of national reconciliation that culminates in the Transition and the Constitution, but because it is a left that has made an identity flag , leading to the center of public debate - and its government action in institutions - key identity issues that affect ideological freedom (gender, hemiplegic historical memory ...).

It is true that these are issues on which Spanish society, including those who recognize themselves as center-right, hold plural positions. But, precisely because these are controversial issues in a plural society, the right-wing center must be able to move away from the unifying views that, in these areas, the left defends, and distinguish between the recognition of people's freedom and indoctrination to who do not share the options that, in the exercise of that freedom, assume certain individuals.

And there can be no regrouping of the right center without reciprocal loyalty. Both the conservative world and the Catholic world must be aware that their objectives can only be achieved within a framework of freedom. Faced with the temptation and the illusion of a benefactor bureaucratic power , they must learn how economic freedom not only favors efficiency, but also leads to an improvement in the moral ecosystem of society, because it conveys to the citizens the message that the needs of others are everyone's competence, not a bureaucratic machine. Revitalization of the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity that at the same time encourages the strengthening of the family, the first social unit of solidarity, and that allows Catholics, experts in solidarity, to attend the public space in a positive and not only reactive tone.

For its part, the liberal world must be aware that freedom cannot develop in a vacuum. The experience of Europe in recent decades demonstrates how the weakening of social ties has not generated a more autonomous individual, free at the end of traditional morality, but an aggravation of the state machine. An individualistic social order, disconnected from the moral demands of community life and the intermediate institutions in which they can be learned and lived, reduces political life to the maximization of material well-being in the short term. When fleeing personal responsibility, it is entrusted that it is the State who seeks to citizens all that is necessary to live comfortably, from the cradle to the grave. The economic interventionism suffered by Europe is related to its cultural crisis. Similarly, this liberal tradition has to assume that only in a specific cultural space, on a human scale and historically configured, is it possible to enjoy individual rights. It is not about sacrificing freedom to identity, but that only where there is a minimum of shared identity is it possible to organize freedom living together.

It is clear that what is proposed here is, in a way, countercultural. But if the center-right does not risk the battle of ideas, contesting a culture that has been completely modeled by the left , it will not be able to aspire to the Government except when the economic stripes of socialism have to be fixed.

Pablo Nuevo López is a Doctor of Law from the San Pablo CEU University.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Columnists
• Spain
• Europe
• Vox
• PP
• Navarra Sum
• Citizens
• Felipe Gonzalez

Liberal comments No one expected

Considering cold The stone of failures

Quia! Loyal opposition